Sir - In the article "Oil Factor" (Flight International, 26 April-2 May, P40), the "aircraft movements rarely exceeding 50 a week" is a reference to the total at Stanley Airport, not at Mount Pleasant Airport, where military and civil movements average 260 a week.
As to the use of Mount Pleasant Airport, I was quoted as saying that "...the Royal Air Force treats it as a military-only installation and isn't very co-operative with civilian flights". In fact, in my experience, the RAF has always proved to be extremely co-operative in its handling of civilian flights.
In the penultimate paragraph, I was quoted as saying that the Argentines "...try to let us know from time to time that they control the airspace above the islands". What I said was that they let us know that they control the route from Chile to Stanley. We occasionally have difficulty, therefore, with aircraft flying in from Punta Arenas.
GERALD CHEEK,
Director, civil aviation,
Falkland Islands Government
Source: Flight International